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Cory Doctorow’s Tips for Writers

Cory Doctorow is one of those scarily productive writers. I haven’t read his fiction yet, but his work as a columnist for _Make_ magazine and elsewhere has regularly impressed me, and his recent young adult novel, _Little Brother_ is getting amazing reviews. In a recent column for _Locus_ magazine, Doctorow shared some of the guidelines he has for himself that help him be productive. The explanations behind the guidelines are [in the article](http://www.locusmag.com/Features/2009/01/cory-doctorow-writing-in-age-of.html), but here are the tips themselves:

* Keep a short, regular work schedule
* Leave yourself a rough edge
* Don’t look up facts while writing but leave a “TK” to mark a spot in need of fact-checking.
* Don’t be ceremonious about where and when you write. Just write.
* Kill your word processor.
* Turn off real-time communications tools: they are the enemy.